pellet stove ?

[lonewolf5348]

Any one has any info on pellet stoves ?
My son is looking to install a pellet stove to help with the heating bills .I here home heating oil this year will be around the $4.50 per gallon.
I like to know from guys who use the pellet stove the pro or cons? and which manufature would you recommend.

[Star1pup]

Sorry, but I don't know anything about the pellet stoves.  I'm thinking to add a wood burner here to offset the cost of fuel oil.  I have a great source of free wood.  Haven't been able to find anything on this or other sites to help choose a stove.  If I find anything, I'll let you know.

I did get a little help on a site for Backwoods Home Magazine.

[quickdtoo]

Google it! 

Tim

http://www.pelletstovesguide.com/

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS235US236&q=pellet+stove+reviews

[Hairtrigger]

Last heating season was my first using a multi fuel stove. I burned corn 90% or more of the time. I did buy bags of pellets so my wife would not have to go out to the barn and get corn when I was not home if she ran out.
My LP gas bill was 1/3 of what it would have been if I had not purchased the stove. I believe it took 1/2 off my heating bill... I was paying $4 for a bushel of corn. There is a bit of dailey maintenance but nothing time consuming.
I would buy another if I needed to.

[DalesCarpentry]

My father in law has been heating his 14x70 trailer with a pellet stove for about 4 years now and he  loves it. He does also have an oil furnace but the thermostat is in the back and it only comes on when is real cold out. He says it has saved him a bunch of money and a lot easier to use than the wood burner he was using before. I helped him pick up pellets for the winter a few years ago. I don't remember just how many we picked up but if I had to guess I would say probably about 80 bags that weighed 50 or 60 pounds a piece. He made it through the whole winter and had some to spare. I would consider buying one myself. Dale

[lonewolf5348]

I see there are a lot of different models wonder who make the better stove?
I use to heat with wood myself then went to coal now at 61 just oil furnace is the way to go:ruff to get old

[Mikey]

lonewolf - I had one for two or three years.  They are fine and throw out a lot of heat, unless the power goes off.  They are dependent on electricity for fuel distribution to the burning pot and for the heat ventilator fans. 

They are cleaner than wood heat and can hold up to about 50 lbs of pellet fuel.  Pellet fuel bags usually go 50 lbs.  There is also different pellet fuels and those with a higher hardwood compositon burn hotter and longer, and is a better fuel, but you don't know what you are getting just by the description on the bag.  HTH.  Mikey.

[bilmac]

I also used one for a few years. Didn't quit because I didn't like it , we moved. Things to think about. Unless you have a backup system you are tied to the house all winter. Most hoppers hold only about a days worth of fuel. There are stoves available that will work on batterys if the electricity goes off. The price of pellets kind of follows the price of petroleum. They use natural gas to make the pellets, and when diesel goes up so does the cost of shipping. The last year I used the stove there was a great shortage of pellets in our town. People were almost standing in line when a semi arrived.  Check several sources to compare the cost per BTU. Pellet prices can fluctuate wildly, like the year of the great shortage. If I were a corn farmer, I would definately have a corn burner, otherwise I,m not so sure you are going to save gobs of $.

You are going to have to give up some floor space to install one, and you are still going to have to have a backup system. In my new home I have used the room for a stove for a small woodstove. Most places you can pick up a lot of wood for free, and you can be helping your neighbors at the same time, helping to dispose of unwanted yard trees. I don't consider myself tied to my stove. We have a natural gas furnace and it does most of my heating. But I think I save quite a bit on gas because I am in the habit of getting up before the furnace kicks in in the morning and warming the house up with free wood in my stove. 

[DalesCarpentry]

Boy I have to say I forgot all about that. When my wife and I first got together we could not leave the trailer for any more 6 hours or so. We had a wood burner and not a real big one at that. If we could not feed it every 6 or 7 hours or pipes could and would freeze. Then we had big troubles. Boy I have to say it is kind of nice living in a normal home that I don't have to worry about getting back to feed the stove. Boy I remember waking up in the morning and being able to see my breath. I don't miss that a bit. Dale

[Hairtrigger]

I would not have one as my only source of heat. 
It sure seems to me they are very optimistic when they rate the stoves as far as BTU's. My stove has 9 heat levels. The top 3 settings take noticibly more fuel than the mid range settings..

I use my stove to compliment my LP gas furnace not replace it.

[gypsyman]

Have used 2 wood fireplace inserts for years, probably save between $800-$1200 a year on my natural gas bill. Neighbor across the street farms somewhere around 1000 acre's a year. 'Course he has a pretty good supply of corn, as he usually splits what he farms between corn and soybeans. Really likes his stove.
Just a thought, price of coal is still really cheap, alot more work, but if your not afraid of alittle extra work, you could save quite a bit that way. MAKE SURE, if you decide to go with coal, get a furnace/fireplace/stove, rated for coal. It burns much hotter, and I had a friend 25 years ago, thought he could sneak in some coal once in awhile, in a wood stove. Ended up splitting the side of the stove after a couple years, almost burnt his house down.  gypsyman

[rockbilly]

Living out here in West Texas I don't worry about heat too much, and when the cold weather does arrive there will be a big pile of mesquite and oak out back.  Where I need help is cooling.  It is going to be near 99 today, and will stay that way until near the middle of Sept-Oct, sometimes even longer. ( I have seen 100 degree days on the first day of deer season which begins the first Saturday in Nov.)

While I may not be able to run around the house in my drawers during the winter, I can slip a sweater on and throw another log on the fire to stay warm...............summer is another story.

[torpedoman]

Had one and loved it as for a back up system when the electric goes out it will quit, just like gas and oil furnaces that need electric for their fans and thermostats fail under the same conditions.

[bilmac]

Not necessarily so. I saw a stove in a store that had a 12V. power system. The salesman said that a car battery would run it for quite awhile. I suppose a guy could figure out a way to keep 12V batterys charged if he had to for the long term, but to me a good wood stove is still a better choice, only thing is having enough room to have a credible wood pile.

[torpedoman]

quiet a while in salesman terms may be a couple of hours but usually a car batt will last about 24 hrs. were i'm at the power goes for a week or more so I'm big on a wood stove.

[snapcrackpop]

You can burn wood pellets in the corn burners also.

I have had a St.croix corn stove for 4 years now and LOVE IT.  http://www.stcroixheat.com/
Last week I replaced the exhaust fan motor ($120), otherwise it has been no problem.  They also have a great fuel calculator on their web site: http://www.stcroixheat.com/fuel.php

The corn/pellet FURNACE, however; has been a headache.  I started out with a Countryside 7500.
http://www.americanenergysystems.com/magnum7500.cfm  It has a "stirrer" in the fire pot.  The stirrator wears out in 1-2 years and you need to replace it ($30).  It is very touchy to moisture content and air flow, chiminey needs to be cleaned out every year.  (If I had it to do over again I would have gone with the 6500, no stirrator and now with the redesigned fire pot it works great.)

This year I got a Fahrenheit: http://www.fahrenheittech.com/index.html
At times it has been worse than the Countryside and at times it is great!

If I ever get a cabin I will be getting a Clarry Stove or a Sedore Stove.  No electricity needed!
http://clarrypelletstove.com/
http://www.sedoreusa.com/howitworks.html   This thing is really interesting.....!

Penn State lists most of the corn and pellet stoves available (pictures on right side): http://energy.cas.psu.edu/shellcorn.html
They also have a fuel calculator: http://energy.cas.psu.edu/EnergySelector.html

Couple other things to consider...
(1)  Corn and pellet storage.  I use about 150 bushels of corn in my home it suppliments the LP (LP only on the cold days).  A gravity grain wagon makes hauling and buying corn easy.  5 gallon buckets from the barn to the house. 
In the basement of my office I built a storage bin out of 4x8 plywood, 2x4s, tin and cable.  I had an access hole cut into the sidewalk and hung an electric auger from the floor joists.  That way I can dump corn on my sidewalk with the gravity wagon and turn on the auger.  No pails required!  I then use a "flex auger" to deliver the corn from the box to my furnace.  I just flip a swich and the corn drops into the furnace hopper!
(2)  Cleaning/screening corn.
Some corn stove/furnace models are more touchy to "dirty" corn.  You can build a screener with tin, and wire mesh and wood.  Or buy one.  Some farmers corn is cleaner than others, same with moisture content.

In closing I would strongly suggest you have a dealer close by that is willing to help with the problems that will arise, unless it has no moving parts or electronics!

[Questor]

I live in Minnesota where it gets more than just a bit refreshingly cool during the winter. It's also a corn-growing state. Pellet stoves came and went here because they were just too expensive to operate. There was about a two year fad for them and then they just disappeared.

One thing that is popular here, at least where there is plenty of wood, is outdoor wood burning furnaces. Just throw a five foot log in it and stay warm until the next day.

Here's a link just to show you what they look like:
http://www.freeheatmachine.com/?gclid=CNuCt4Otm5gCFQMQswodVjlsnw

They tend to be pretty expensive, but last a long time, and for some the fuel is nearly free.

Bottom line is that it's not the technology in question, it's the cost of the fuel.

[burntmuch]

This year we bought a corn burner fireplace insert. Its heating my 2100 sf house fairly descent. Now when it gets below 10 degrees, it needs a little furnace back up. Im loving it so far

[snapcrackpop]

Questor,
I too live in MN (Southcentral) but I don't think that the pellet/corn stoves are just a fad. 

What do you mean by "too expensive to operate"?  Fuel or maintenence?
Corn prices fluctuate and right now corn is $3.50/bu.  That's a heck of a lot cheaper than LP or natural gas.

Pellet/corn stoves can be a great option, but the trick is finding a good one.....

My corn stove cost about $2500 and I installed it myself.  A wood burner is cheap heat if you can do the cutting and hauling yourself, but $8,500 before installation? Ouch!